Fleet Foxes have claimed the Best Art Vinyl Award 2008 for the front cover of their self-titled album.

The album cover, which features a segment of Pieter Bruegel's painting 'Netherlandish Proverbs', was voted the winner of the annual award, organised by the Artvinyl.com who manufacture frames to display old records in.

Roots Manuva's 'Slime And Reason' came second, while Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends' came third in the poll.

The album covers that came in the upper echelons of the chart after the public had voted will be on display at the London Rough Trade East store in London throughout January.

In the rumor mill, a "source" close to Michael Jackson says that he would like to make amends with Paul McCartney by willing what he owns of the Beatle's catalog back to the former Beatle. Get that will written up ASAP!

--------------------------------------------

Geico Not Hiring

Iggy Pop is the spokesman in a new multi-million dollar advertising campaign by the U.K. on-line insurance company Swift Cover.

According to the press release, the ads are based around their new catchphrase "get a life" and will feature Pop "embracing his online life and how it provides efficiencies and cost savings."

--------------------------------------------

Judas Priest Overture?

Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest recently talked to Britain's Sunday Mercury, confirming the group's plans to play their latest album, Nostradamus, in its entirety at 2009 shows. "Our ambition is to perform Nostradamus from start to finish when everyone's got used to it and they all know it."

As far as their next project, "We might do a live album. We've recorded quite a few shows so we have to get together and listen to those and a think about that, but with us you never know what's around the corner."

--------------------------------------------

Guitar Hero Moola!

It is reported that Rock & Roll icons Aerosmith have made more money off the June release of "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith," than the band made from their last two album releases.

Kai Huang, co-founder of RedOctave, which first developed "Guitar Hero," predicts that music videos games will become the biggest platform for music distribution in the world. More than 65,000 original songs have been uploaded so far and more than 22 million units of "Guitar Hero" have been sold in the US since its launch in October of 2005. And I still play Atari....

--------------------------------------------

Turn That Crap Down!

Blasting music across enemy lines is not a new form of psychological warfare and US military interrogators are utilizing music in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanmo Bay to combat detainees and resurgents.

Some of the most frequently used songs include Metallica's "Enter Sandman," "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, two AC/DC numbers, "Shoot To Thrill" and "Hells Bells" and Bruce Springsteen's appropriate American jingle "Born In The USA."

Apparently they have taken torture to new levels by blasting the theme song from the children's television shows "Sesame Street" and the insipid "I Love You" song from Barney and Friends.

Other artists whose music has been played at US detention sites include: Aerosmith, Britney Spears, Don McLean, Lil' Kim, Limp Bizkit, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the most torturous of all Meatloaf.

Bruce Hornsby's demo tapes were rejected by over 70 record companies. A year after RCA signed him in 1985, his tune "The Way It Is" topped the Billboard chart, followed by five more Top 40 hits, including "Mandolin Rain" (#4) and "The Valley Road" (# 5).

For many years it was thought that the very first song ever recorded was "Mary Had A Little Lamb", as spoken by Thomas Edison while testing an early phonograph in 1877. In March, 2008, the Association for Recorded Sound Collections announced the discovery of a recording of "Au Clair de la Lune", found by audio historians in the archives of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris . The recording was made by Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville and recorded on a "phonautograph", a device that engraved sound waves onto a sheet of paper blackened by the smoke of an oil lamp. The recording took place on April 9th, 1860...17 years before Thomas Edison invented his phonograph.

The Four Seasons' Frankie Valli was arrested by Columbus, Ohio Police in September 1965, after his manager forgot to pay his hotel bill.

Although he sang the lead vocal for "Sugar Sugar", a song that sold over 13 million copies and was named Billboard magazine's Record of The Year, Ron Dante did not earn any royalties for the hit. Just happy to be recording at all in 1969, he did the session for the musicians' union scale wage.

In November, 2007, Neil Diamond finally revealed a secret that he had held onto for decades. The inspiration for his 1969 hit "Sweet Caroline" was President Kennedy's daughter.

They say you don't have to be a rocket scientist to write a hit song, but Michael Kennedy was working for the McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company when he co-wrote The DeFranco Family's "Heartbeat - It's A Love Beat". He later gave up music and went on to work on the International Space Station.

Jay And The Americans first learned the song "Cara Mia" in 1962 because it contained the only four chords they knew. When they finally recorded it in 1965, the tune rose to #4 on the Billboard chart.

After seeing Marvin Gaye's large collection of pornography, writer David Ritz suggested that Gaye needed some "sexual healing". The two later collaborated on some lyrics which went into the hit song, but Ritz was not given any writing credit. After Gaye died, Ritz successfully sued.

The Allman Brothers' only Billboard Top 10 hit, "Ramblin' Man" was the last song recorded by bassist Berry Oakley before his death in 1972.

The soundtrack for the movie Saturday Night Fever was composed and performed primarily by The Bee Gees and has gone platinum fifteen times over. Despite this success, The Bee Gees' Robin Gibb says he has never seen the film all the way through.

Georgeanna Gordon, singer with Motown girl group The Marvelettes, died in 1980.

Van McCoy, singer and producer was born in 1944. He had a 1975 US #1 hit “The Hustle.” McCoy died on July 6, 1979 (age 38).

Syd Barrett, guitar, vocals, Pink Floyd original member was born in 1946. Barrett died from complications arising from diabetes on 7th July 7, 2006 (age 60).

Sandy Denny, UK folk singer and member of Fairport Convention was born in 1947. She died on April 21, 1978 after falling down the stairs at a friend’s house.

Jazz great Dizzy Gillespie died in 1993.

In 1998, Sonny Bono suffered fatal head and neck injuries while skiing at the Heavenly Ski Resort in Nevada. The 62 year old Bono was apparently skiing alone, late in the day when he crashed into a tree. After leaving show business, Sonny was elected Mayor of Palm Springs, California in 1988 and in 1994 was elected to the US congress and re-elected in 1996.

History:

The Village People scored their only UK #1 single in 1979 with “Y.M.C.A.” At its peak the single was selling over 150,000 copies a day.

In 1970, CSN&Y made their UK live debut at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Gibson guitars launched it' 'Flying V' electric guitar in 1958.

Elvis Presley performed in the gym at Randolph High School, Mississippi in 1956; this was the last time he ever appeared in a small auditorium.

Elvis Presley made his last appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1957. He performed for over 20 minutes, singing "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender," "Heartbreak Hotel" among others.

“He could play the guitar just like a-ring in a bell.” Chuck Berry recorded the epic, and Rock n’ Roll defining, “Johnny B. Goode” at Chess Studios in Chicago in 1958.

In 1975, Pink Floyd began recording their album-long tribute to Syd Barrett, "Wish You Were Here," on the former front man's 29th birthday.

In 2003, the estate of George Harrison sued a Staten Island doctor who they allege forced the late Beatle to sign a guitar while he was critically ill with cancer. The estate sought possession of the autographed instrument.

Danny and the Juniors' Rock 'n' Roll classic "At The Hop" was the #1 song in the US in 1958. Originally written as "Do the Bop,” American Bandstand host Dick Clark advised the group to re-write the lyrics because the dance known as “The Bop” was on its way out. Clark was right and the Philadelphia quartet's record stayed in the top spot for a month.

The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" was awarded a gold record in 1966, two days before it began a three-week reign in the #1 spot. It entered the US chart on December 18, 1965 and stayed on the Hot 100 for 12 weeks.